Wichita Eagle: Nation and World

Gunmen shoot into Calif. home, 10-year-old killed

JOHN S. MARSHALL — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:08 CDT

Authorities were searching for at least two gunmen who walked up to the door of a Northern California home and opened fire, killing a 10-year-old girl and injuring her parents.

"Whoever these gunmen were, they were directly outside the front door," Sacramento County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Jason Ramos said Sunday. "This was not a drive-by. These gunmen approached the house and shot inside."

Sacramento County sheriff's officials suspected that a family member had gang ties.

Suicide bomber kills 14 at Afghan province council

Mon, 20 May 2013 03:03 CDT

A suicide bomber struck outside a provincial council headquarters in northern Afghanistan on Monday, killing the council chief and at least 13 others, authorities said.

Baghlan provincial council leader Mohammad Rasoul Mohseni was entering the compound in the morning when the bomber ran up on foot and detonated his explosives, police spokesman in Baghlan province Jawed Bashrat said.

Provincial chief of police Asadullah Sherzad said 14 people were killed, including Mohseni, and 11 were wounded.

Arias returns to court for penalty phase of trial

BRIAN SKOLOFF — Mon, 20 May 2013 02:43 CDT

Jodi Arias returns to court Monday for the continuation of the penalty phase of her trial after being convicted of first-degree murder in the killing of her one-time lover as jurors consider a sentence of life in prison or execution.

Last week, jurors heard tearful comments from Travis Alexander's brother and sister as they described how his killing has torn their lives apart.

Monday begins a new phase of the trial as defense attorneys present witnesses to testify on Arias' behalf in hopes of saving her life.

Car bombs in Baghdad, south Iraq kill at least 34

SINAN SALAHEDDIN — Mon, 20 May 2013 03:13 CDT

A wave of car bombings across Baghdad's Shiite neighborhoods and in the southern city of Basra killed at least 34 people and wounded dozens on Monday, Iraqi officials said.

In the Iraqi capital, nine car bombs went off, striking at bus stops, market places and in the streets of Shiite areas during the busy morning hours, killing 24 people and wounding 112, according to police officials.

In the southern city of Basra, two car bombs - one near a restaurant and the other at a bus stop - killed at least 10 people and wounded 27, according to police officials in the oil-rich city.

Quotations of the day

Mon, 20 May 2013 02:08 CDT

"Tomorrow's commute will be extremely challenging. Residents should plan for a week's worth of disruptions."- Conn. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, saying the aftermath of Friday's commuter train collision will cause traffic problems in his state.

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"The big question is, how do you know, when someone's pointing a gun at you, whether you should keep talking to them, or shoot? That's what makes the job of an officer amazingly difficult." - Michele Galietta, a professor of psychology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, on the police officer who accidentally killed a Long Island college student..

BC ceremony notable for who will attend, who won't

Mon, 20 May 2013 01:43 CDT

This year's commencement at Boston College looks to be notable for who will be there, as well as who won't.

Two graduate business students who were injured in the Boston Marathon bombings have recovered enough to receive their diplomas in Monday's ceremonies.

Brittany Loring and Liza Cherney are both set to receive degrees from the Carroll School of Management. Loring needed three operations after her left leg was struck by shrapnel from the first of the twin blasts on April 15. Cherney was standing next to her close friend and classmate Loring and was also badly hurt.

Civil rights trial on NYPD tactic closing

COLLEEN LONG — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:43 CDT

The federal civil rights challenge to the contentious New York Police Department tactic of stop, question and frisk is closing after more than nine weeks of testimony from men who say they were wrongly stopped because of their race and police officers and officials who believe the nation's largest force operates with integrity.

U.S. District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin was scheduled to hear summations in the lengthy trial Monday. She must then examine more than 7,000 pages of trial record and may order major changes to the policy, reforms that could have a nationwide impact on how police departments operate.

More than 5 million stops have been made in New York in the past decade, mostly of black and Hispanic men. Police must have reasonable suspicion to stop someone, a standard lower than probable cause needed to justify an arrest. Only about 10 percent result in arrests.

NY town eyes limit on use of Plum Island

FRANK ELTMAN — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:43 CDT

Selling an island where scientists have experimented with infectious animal diseases since the dawn of the Cold War was going to be difficult enough. But it now appears any prospective buyer won't be able to do much with Plum Island anyway.

As the federal government proceeds with plans to sell the island 100 miles east of New York City to defray the cost of moving animal disease research to a new billion-dollar laboratory in Kansas, Long Island officials are taking steps to prevent resorts or condos or any other development, even before the bidding begins.

The initiative has the support of environmentalists, who say the 843-acre island is a haven for several endangered bird species. But one prominent Hamptons real estate executive says not allowing development of Plum Island could affect the selling price by tens of millions of dollars.

United to restart 787 flights on Monday

JOSHUA FREED — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:48 CDT

United Airlines is getting its 787s back in the air.

The planes are returning after being grounded for four months by the federal government because of smoldering batteries on 787s owned by other airlines. The incidents included an emergency landing of one plane, and a fire on another.

The incidents never caused any serious injuries. But the January grounding embarrassed Boeing, which makes the 787, and disrupted schedules at the eight airlines that were flying the planes. The company had delivered 50 of the planes worldwide.

FBI turns away many applicants who fail lie-detector tests

Marisa Taylor — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:08 CDT

Thousands of job applicants come to FBI offices all across the country every year, eager to work for the top law enforcement agency in the U.S.

But many of them have their hopes dashed, and it’s not because of their work experience or education or criminal records. They’re turned down because they’ve failed their polygraph tests.

The FBI’s policy of barring job candidates who fail their polygraph tests clashes with the view of many scientists that government agencies shouldn’t be relying on polygraph testing to decide whether to hire or fire someone. Experts say polygraph testing isn’t a reliable indicator of whether someone is lying – especially in employment screening.

Glitch in widely used polygraph can skew results

Marisa Taylor — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:08 CDT

Police departments and federal agencies across the country are using a type of polygraph despite evidence of a technical problem that could label truthful people as liars or the guilty as innocent, McClatchy has found.

As a result, innocent people might have been labeled criminal suspects, faced greater scrutiny while on probation or lost out on jobs. Or, just as alarming, spies and criminals may have escaped detection.

The technical glitch produced errors in the computerized measurements of sweat in one of the most popular polygraphs, the LX4000. Although polygraphers first noticed the problem a decade ago, many government agencies hadn’t known about the risk of inaccurate measurements until McClatchy recently raised questions about it.

Polygraph world’s close ties spark accusations of favoritism

Marisa Taylor — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:08 CDT

When polygrapher Walt Goodson began moonlighting for a private company, he didn’t think the law enforcement agency he worked for would care. After all, his supervisor at the Texas Department of Public Safety had worked for his company’s competitor and had approved his outside job.

But after Texas investigators found his relationship with the polygraph manufacturer to be improper partly because of his involvement in a bid, Goodson agreed it looked bad, even describing some of the company’s arrangements as “kickbacks.”

“It’s the perception of the way everybody else sees it . . . ,” he told a Texas Department of Public Safety investigator in 2008. “It stinks.”